Nicky Jam dreams of having a star in Hollywood

Nicky Jam has received music awards such as the Billboard and Latin Grammy, but nothing would make him happier as a star on the Walk of Fame.

It is something he considers possible now that he is focused on developing his fledgling career in Hollywood, where he has already appeared in major productions such as “XXx: Return of Xander Cage” (“xXx: Reactivated”) and “Bad Boys for Life” (“Bad Boys Forever”), and where he debuts on Friday with his first animated role, Butch, in the new film of “Tom & Jerry” (“Tom and Jerry”).

“It’s my dream. More than an Oscar, more than a Grammy, more than anything, because my kids, my grandchildren, can walk down the street and see my name on the Hollywood floor,” the star said. of trap and reggaeton on Wednesday in The Associated Press in an interview via Zoom from Miami. “It’s huge. It’s something I know I’ve been working on, and I don’t see it that far!”

“Tom & Jerry” takes place in New York and combines real scenes and actors (including Chloë Grace Moretz and Michael Peña, as well as a cameo by Ozuna) with animated characters. It is an adaptation of the classic Hanna-Barbera that reveals how the famous domestic cat and the naughty mouse met and became rivals.

Butch is the leader of a gang of stray cats that make life difficult for the feline protagonist. And to interpret it, Jam was inspired by “how boricuas speak when they are on the street.”

“As I am a Puerto Rican raised in the United States, it is very easy for me to make the accent, this street slang in English, because it was the one I grew up with, ”said the musician of Dominican mother and Puerto Rican father, who was born on the outskirts of Boston but moved as a child to Puerto Rico.

“I also had a director (Tim Story) in front of me and he asked me, ‘how would you do that?’ Then I threw myself the ‘Are you laughing at me? You know what I do to cats that laugh at me’ (Are you laughing at me? You know what I do to cats that laugh at me) ”, ha added gracefully making his character’s hoarse voice. “I gave him this life of mine, do you understand me? I imagined myself in this situation.”

What would Butch sound like singing Nicky Jam songs?

“Well, I hope so. I hope they get Butch to sing soon, it would be super cool that. But as in this case he was the bad guy, the bad guys don’t sing much,” said the hit performer as ” The Lover, “” Until Dawn, “and” Forgiveness “laughing. “With God’s favor the next animation you do.”

Jam, who is completely bilingual, also did Butch’s voice for the Spanish version of the tape. That, he said, was what presented him with the greatest challenge.

“In English it was very easy because the animations weren’t done yet, it was just me then interpreting the voices as they came out to me,” he explained. “But in Spanish I had to watch the animations and calculate the time (so that it fit exactly). It took me almost five hours to do it! But it was cool. It looked really good and I really enjoyed it.”

As a father of four, he was excited to finally be able to show them the movie, but the proudest thing in his family was certainly his father, a “super fan” of “Tom & Jerry” who called him to congratulate more effusively than ever.

“I said, ‘Daddy, if I’ve made movies with Vin Diesel, Will Smith!’ And he says to me, ‘No, Dad, none of these people are older than Tom and Jerry.’ So I take a sentimental value to the project as one always wants to make his father happy and his dad to be happy. I’m proud of something, and it gives me a lot of happiness. “

He is now preparing to shoot “American Sole,” about the parallel culture and business of tennis, where young people get rich by selling exclusive shoes for thousands of dollars online. “I am one of the toughest tennis collectors,” he has advanced on his role. The film, produced by Kevin Hart, will also feature the performance of Bad Bunny.